How Do You Write a Thank-You Letter?

Writing thank-you letters and handing them out to the people who deserve them gives such a satisfying feeling. You may not know but your letter might just be the thing that will brighten up their day, especially if the recipient of your letter is having a bad day. If they are not having a bad day, your thank-you letter is still sure to put a smile on their faces. Who does not like being thanked anyway, right? Everybody deserves to be thanked for something that they did. Putting it into writing just makes it better as it can be kept for a long time. Wouldn’t it be nice to stumble upon an old thank-you letter and be reminded of what you have done that the writer was thankful for?

Related:

Some people might be baffled and ask, “How do you write a thank-you letter? Do you simply say thank you or do you document everything about what you are thankful for? Do you write it formally or do you make use of informal language? How do you start these letters? What should be the content?”

If you are someone who wants to write thank-you letters for business and personal reasons, you should definitely keep reading this article. We will let you know how you should write a thank-you letter. Plus, we have sample thank-you letters that you can freely download at no cost.

Sample Thank-You Letter

Thank You Letter for Scholarship

Writing the Thank-You Letter

Nowadays, people will mainly say thank you over text. While this is not considered to be a bad thing, don’t you think sending a letter telling how thankful you are for the favor or good deed done seems more sincere? While texts may still be a meaningful way of expressing your gratitude to a person, a thank-you letter gives a more thoughtful vibe and can actually help to address your letter in a warm manner. So how do you actually come up with thank-you letters?

We will walk you through and even let you in on a few tips to make it as meaningful as possible.

Starting Your Thank-You Letter

Always start with a salutation. Address the person properly. Starting with the word Dear followed by the recipient’s name is the most common and the most appropriate, especially for business thank-you letters. You can try other salutations such as the following if you have a close relationship with the recipient:

“My dearest [Name of Recipient],”

“Dearest [Name of Recipient],”

“My friend, [Name of Recipient],”

“Hey, [Name of Recipient],”

Let the recipient know how grateful you are. Thank the recipient immediately. Thank-you notes are typically short and straight to the point. Let them know what you are thankful for and make sure that you make it clear in your letter.

Emphasize the reason why you are thankful. Whether you are thankful for a gift received, a favor, or an interview, let the recipient know why you are being thankful. Let them know that the efforts they have put themselves through are greatly appreciated. Be honest as possible.

Wrap up the letter in a positive manner. Again, emphasize the reason/s why you are thankful. A line or two will be enough for this part of the letter.

Close the letter in a respectful manner. Your choice for your closing will depend on what your relationship with the recipient is. For example, if you are writing a thank-you letter to your mom, you may close with, “Much love,” “Love,” or “All my love.”

Thank-You Letter Aesthetics

As much as the content matters, you would also like to present your letter in a creative yet simple manner. After all, you want to make it as memorable as possible. Here are a few tips on how you can make your thank-you letter look its best.

Handwritten or typed? While a typed thank-you letter seems more convenient, handwritten letters show much more sincerity and effort. It does take an effort to make your handwriting look good, right? Whether you choose to handwrite or type your letter, what matters is you craft it as sincerely as possible and honestly, you need not worry what medium you would like to use for your thank-you letter. Just make it look as elegant as possible.

Use a stationary. You may think that stationeries are old-fashioned. However, they will give a creative touch to your letter. You can take a few ideas from attractive examples of invitation designs and use it as an inspiration for coming up with a good stationery design that will be memorable to the recipient.

Customize according to the personality of the recipient. If you are writing thank-you letters for business purposes, you should definitely keep everything formal and use language that is straightforward and simple. However, if you are writing a thank-you letter for someone you are close to, you can keep it light and drop the formality.

Format your email just like how you would a handwritten letter. Sometimes, you will still end up choosing convenience over actually printing or handwriting your thank-you letter. We don’t blame you, especially that it is quite faster to send an email nowadays. However, make sure that when you are writing your email thank-you letter, you should still make an effort to make it look and sound decent and respectful.

Business Thank You Letter

Professional Thank You Letter

Thank-You Letter Reminders

Before we end this article about writing thank-you letters, we will leave you with a few reminders about sending thank-you letters that you should take note of.

When to send your letter. In sending your thank-you letters, you have to make sure you do it in a timely manner. You may send your letter anytime you like. However, people tend to be very busy nowadays, so ensuring that you send your letter immediately will help them remember the events better. It also gives the impression that you do care and that you took some time to sit down and write a note.

Brief messages are ideal. Keeping your message succinct is best for these letters. Keep everything simple. No need to make use of flowery words if you cannot think of any. Directly mention what it is you are thankful for.

Big gestures = Big letters? A ton of people think that the bigger the gift or favor, the longer the thank-you letter should be. However, this should not be the case. It will always be more important to say thank you than to actually think of how long your letter should be. There is no need to be very poetic about your thank-yous.

Decorate. Decorated envelopes. Scented paper. Fine pens. These all contribute to how good your letter will look like. Decorated letters feel more special and more sincere, especially with handwritten or printed thank-you letters.

Proofread and edit. Check all the spellings and see if you have no grammatical errors. Spell everything, especially the names, correctly.

Do not thank the person too much. As much as possible, keep everything as close to the level of kindness shown to you. Do not send a bouquet of flowers alongside your thank-you letter if the person just bought you a cone of ice cream.

With the tips and the examples of thank-you letter that we have presented, we are hoping that etiquette of saying thanks or acknowledging someone’s kindness never gets lost as time passes by. Today, in the time where the Internet has become a part of the daily lives of almost everyone in the world, thank-you letters and notes are becoming endangered and are slowly losing its existence because of Internet-powered communication medium such as online messaging and emails. There is nothing wrong with being involved with such communication platforms as long as the art of saying thank you through notes and letters still remain. Whether your reason for saying thank you is for business or personal reasons, your gratefulness and appreciation toward kindness will always be cherished.

Whichever way you choose to say thank you, remember that it will always be better to say it than to not say it at all. It is a good way of maintaining relationships professionally and personally. Nothing major will happen if you do not say thank you, but you will surely be making someone’s day just a tad bit brighter than it was. Acknowledging someone’s kindness to you should be appreciated appropriately.